Integrated Maternal Care Strategies in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review

Ineffective organisation of care leads to increased morbidity and mortality in neonates and their mothers. We aimed to identify and describe strategies used in low- and middle-income countries that attempt to deliver coherent, coordinated, and continuous services (i.e., integrated care) and how the various strategies affect the organisation of care.

Health system performance assessment

Putting the ‘I’ Back into Integrated Care

Charlotte Augst, CEO of National Voices, reflects on progress with integrated care since the charity co-produced the I statements with people with lived experience of health and social care services.

Enhancing inter-organisational partnerships in integrated care models for older adults: a multiple case study

The purpose of this paper was to develop deeper insights into the practices enacted by entrepreneurial healthcare managers to enhance the implementation of a partnership logic in integrated care models for older adults.

Policy by Pilot? Learning From Demonstration Projects for Integrated Care; Comment on “Integration or Fragmentation of Health Care? Examining Policies and Politics in a Belgian Case Study”

Analysis of policy implementation for chronic disease in Belgium highlights the difficulties of launching experiments for integrated care in a health system with fragmented governance. It also entreats us to consider the inherent challenges of piloting integrated care for chronic disease. Sociomedical characteristics of chronic disease –political, social, and economic aspects of improving outcomes – pose distinct problems for pilot projects, particularly because addressing health inequity requires collaboration across health and social sectors and a long-term, life-course perspective on health. Drawing on recent US experience with demonstration projects for health service delivery reform and on chronic disease research, I discuss constraints ...

How do three components of professional commitment influence nurse-reported patient-centred care and care quality?

Patient-centred care and care quality are the two critical care outcomes. However, no study has yet examined how the three components of professional commitment are related to nurse-reported patient-centred care and care quality, showing a research gap. This study shows that affective professional commitment is positively associated with nurse-reported patient-centred care, which is positively associated with nurse-reported care quality.

Family Planning Experiences and Needs of Young Women Living With and Without HIV Accessing an Integrated HIV and SRH Intervention in Zimbabwe-An Exploratory Qualitative Study

People living with HIV have higher unmet family planning needs compared to those without HIV. This is heightened for young people. However, the provision of family planning for young people within HIV programmes is uncommon. We investigated family planning uptake, acceptability of, and engagement with a service offering integrated HIV and sexual and reproductive health services for youth in a community-based setting in Zimbabwe.

Recommendations for an HIV and family planning integrated service for young people living with HIV include: offering a range of services (including method-mix contraceptives) to choose from; supporting their agency to engage with the services which ...

Heterogeneity in preferences for outcomes of integrated care for persons with multiple chronic diseases: a latent class analysis of a discrete choice experiment

For an integrated care programme to be successful, preferences of the stakeholders involved should be aligned. The aim of this study is to investigate to which extent outcomes beyond health are valued and to study the heterogeneity of preferences of those involved in integrated care.

The acceptability of integrated healthcare services for HIV and non-communicable diseases: experiences from patients and healthcare workers in Tanzania

In sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has risen sharply amidst a high burden of communicable diseases. An integrated approach to HIV and NCD care offers the potential of strengthening disease control programmes. We used qualitative methods to explore patients’ and care-providers’ experiences and perspectives on the acceptability of integrated care for HIV-infection, diabetes mellitus (DM), and hypertension (HT) in Tanzania.

The role of primary care in informing and supporting people with limited health literacy in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative interview study

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, people have been confronted with a large amount of information about the virus and the governmental measures against its spreading. However, more than a quarter of individuals have limited health literacy (HL), meaning that they have difficulty finding, understanding, and applying health information. The purpose of this interview study was to investigate how individuals with limited HL acquire information about COVID-19 and governmental measures, what difficulties they experience in understanding and applying it, and what may be needed to overcome these difficulties. We also addressed other problems that they might face as a ...